'Doctor Strange' Director Responds to Whitewashing Controversy

Courtesy of Disney

Scott Derrickson briefly addressed the situation on Twitter.

Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson made brief comments over a controversy about giving Asian roles to white actors, sparked in part by the casting of Tilda Swinton as the traditionally Asian "Ancient One" in the upcoming Marvel Studios movie.

In a tweet sent Wednesday, Derrickson didn't specifically address the casting of Swinton, instead responding to, as he put it, the "raw anger/hurt from Asian-Americans over Hollywood whitewashing, stereotype & erasure of Asians in cinema," he wrote.

The tweet followed the Twitter hashtag #whitewashedOUT trending in recent days. The hashtag was created by actor and comedian Margaret Cho in association with the Nerds of Color blog and children's book campaign We Need Diverse Books to promote discussion of the lack of Asian onscreen representation during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Derrickson's Doctor Strange has been under fire for whitewashing following the release of the first trailer for the movie.

On a podcast, one of the movie's screenwriters talked about potential reasons behind the decision not to cast an Asian actor as the Ancient One, prompting Marvel to release a statement defending its "very strong record of diversity in its casting of films."